Chapter 979: The Ultimate Formation
Chapter 979: The Ultimate Formation
Through large-scale alchemical production, the catalysis of array engravings, and the provision of numerous law variations, the study of formations could be accelerated. This was Mo Hua's attempt.
If this experiment succeeded, it would save a lot of manpower, time, and spiritual calculation power.
In the future, when conducting the "Return to Origin" of formation principles, there would be a "model" to refer to.
By mass-producing formations through cultivation, and applying them on a large scale, samples of array evolution could be obtained, allowing for the understanding of the origin of formation principles.
In this way, learning and application could be integrated, and it could also benefit countless lives.
There would be no need to waste the mental power of numerous formation masters, as was the case with the Five Elements Sect, in theoretical research and studies.
Of course, this was just Mo Hua's idea.
Whether it was feasible or not still needed to be verified step by step.
At this point, the large furnaces in Gu's casting workshop, including the hidden "Magnetic Ink Furnace" and its formations, were all constructed according to Mo Hua's plan.
Mo Hua inspected them from start to finish, confirming that there were no issues before handing them over to Master Gu.
From then on, the sealing of the furnaces, the ignition, production, refining, and secrecy were all left to Master Gu's arrangements.
Master Gu gazed at the grand furnaces before him and the intricate and profound formations engraved on the inner walls of the furnaces. His gratitude and admiration were beyond words, and his respect for Mo Hua deepened.
Cultivation was for killing, but formations could save lives.
Even though Mo Hua was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, he had done what many Golden Core cultivators, even Nascent Soul stage cultivators, couldn't do.
A single thought could save the world.
For the cultivators in the city, he had built a foundation for their survival.
Indeed, he had not misjudged this young master Mo; he was truly their "savior."
However, even so, Master Gu hadn't expected that this savior would be so "precious" to them...
For Gu Shan City, this was almost equivalent to having half a "celestial."
Master Gu invited Mo Hua to the side and personally served him tea.
The two sat in the courtyard, looking at the now vastly different Gu Shan City. Master Gu sighed and said,
"Thanks to Young Master Mo, the days in Gu Shan City will surely get better and better."
Mo Hua pondered for a moment but shook his head, "Not necessarily."
Master Gu was taken aback.
Mo Hua said, "Whether it's the mine or the furnace, these are all external things, given by others."
"Relying on these, they might become richer for a while, but in the long run, problems will arise. When that time comes, the wandering cultivators in Gu Shan City might not be able to protect these foundations."
Master Gu's eyebrows slowly furrowed.
These concerns were also buried in his heart. He wasn't unaware of them; he was just too excited by the changes around Gu Shan City to think deeply about them.
After a moment of thought, Master Gu slowly said,
"Then... let's urge the wandering cultivators in Gu Shan City, especially the children, to work hard on their cultivation and learn casting. Only when they have the ability will they be able to protect what they have now."
Mo Hua nodded and took out a booklet.
The cover page had neat handwriting, and the four characters "Introduction to Formations" were written with a touch of elegance.
It looked ordinary.
"This is a booklet I compiled, which includes basic array engravings, commonly used formation patterns, some advanced formation knowledge, formation principles, and is convenient for those children to use as an introduction to formations, learning from scratch, gradually deepening their understanding of formations."
"The formations in this booklet are practical and tailored to Gu Shan City's environment. Even if they only learn a few array engravings, they can still use them in their daily lives..."
Master Gu took the booklet, which was thin in his hands, but he felt its weight as if it were a thousand pounds. He said solemnly,
"I will definitely teach these children and let them remember your kindness, young master. I will ensure they don't disappoint you and study formations diligently."
Mo Hua thought for a moment but shook his head, "It can't be said like that."
Master Gu was startled, "It can't be said like that?"
"Yes," Mo Hua nodded, "They shouldn't have the idea of learning formations for 'me.' Formations shouldn't be learned for others."
"Then..." Master Gu pondered, "Should they learn for themselves?"
Mo Hua still shook his head, "That won't do either. Learning like this will easily make them selfish and narrow-minded."
If they learn for themselves, once they succeed, they will easily feel that everything they have is due to their own efforts.
They will look down on others and belittle those who are not as good as them.
Most likely, after they succeed, they will leave Gu Shan City, join a sect, marry into aristocratic families, and seek personal fame and fortune. They might even turn around and exploit the interests of Gu Shan City's cultivators.
People are easily blinded by temporary success, ignoring the fact that their success is often due to the help of many people and the silent contributions of others.
Therefore, telling these orphans to cultivate for themselves, the future of Gu Shan City will likely not be bright.
Children with talent, using Gu Shan City's cultivation resources, will likely despise their origins after achieving success and abandon Gu Shan City.
In this way, they would be no different from Shen Shouhang.
Master Gu's expression turned solemn, and he fell into deep thought. After a moment, he asked, "Then... how should we explain this to the children?"
Mo Hua's eyes lit up slightly, and he said slowly, "Tell them they are learning formations for 'Gu Shan City.'"
"They can eat their fill, have spirit stones for cultivation, and learn formations because of this city."
"After they succeed, they should also contribute to Gu Shan City and its cultivators, making the city better."
"As long as Gu Shan City prospers, their lives will improve, and their descendants will have a better future."
"And most importantly..." Mo Hua said solemnly, "Everything in Gu Shan City, whether it's the mountain, the mine, or the profits derived from them, belongs to all the cultivators of Gu Shan City."
"No cultivator should privately own or trade these."
"Once they seek profit and sell their means of survival, they might gain temporary wealth, but in the long run, there will be great disasters."
"The Shen Clan's situation will repeat itself."
"These wandering cultivators will suffer exploitation and oppression once again, enduring a second round of bitterness and suffering..."
"All previous efforts will be in vain..."
Master Gu was stunned for a while, his emotions stirred. He then bowed deeply to Mo Hua and sighed, "Young master... you have a deep understanding of justice.
After a few days, Mo Hua prepared to depart and return to the Tai Xu Gate.
Most of the matters regarding Gu Shan City had been planned, and the formation was almost completed. He had many other things to attend to and couldn't stay any longer.
Gu Master and the disciples from the Casting Guild all came to see him off.
Fan Jin also arrived.
The Dao Ting Si was busy with various tasks, including managing the Shen Clan, the Gu Mountain Mine, and allocating manpower and resources, as well as auditing regulations and other matters.
The Dao Ting Si in Gu Shan City was short-staffed, and Fan Jin was extremely busy, but he still took the time to come and see Mo Hua off.
It was both a farewell and an expression of gratitude.
"Thank you for your support and guidance, Sir," Fan Jin said solemnly.
Mo Hua had a rough idea of what he meant and asked, "Have you met Inspector Xia?"
"Yes," Fan Jin nodded, "Inspector Xia gave me an opportunity for promotion. All of this is thanks to you, Mo Gongzi."
Mo Hua shook his head, "This opportunity was something you grasped yourself."
Opportunities are seized by oneself, but if no one provides the opportunity, no amount of effort will allow one to seize it.
The more humble one's background, the more one understands the value of opportunities.
Fan Jin clasped his fists together and said sincerely, "Words cannot express my gratitude. From now on, if you ever need anything, I, Fan, will spare no effort."
"You're too kind, Fan Dian Si," Mo Hua smiled.
He had only provided an opportunity, and how far Fan Dian Si could go from there was up to him.
"It's getting late, I should return to the sect. Take care, Fan Dian Si," Mo Hua said.
Fan Dian Si bowed and said in a low voice, "Take care, Gongzi!"
Gu Master and the others also cupped their hands and said, "Take care, Gongzi!"
Mo Hua stepped onto the carriage, waved goodbye to them, and said with a smile, "Take care, all of you."
The carriage gradually moved away, and Gu Master and the others stood at the entrance of the Casting Guild, seeing Mo Hua off until the carriage's shadow disappeared at the intersection, still reluctant to leave.
As the carriage continued on its journey, passing through the streets of Gu Shan City and out through the city gates, it eventually embarked on the long journey back.
Mo Hua looked back.
The dilapidated Gu Shan City, nestled against the desolate Gu Mountain, was vaguely visible through the mountain mist.
The spirit machinery stood tall, the mines were well-organized, and within the city, one could vaguely see the massive casting furnaces, emitting white smoke as the fire flickered and went out.
Although it was still dilapidated and desolate, the scenery had changed, and the city had regained its vitality and liveliness.
Mo Hua felt a sense of relief.
Beside him, Xun Ziyou also silently watched Mo Hua.
He was Mo Hua's "bodyguard," and he had silently observed everything in Gu Shan City.
Xun Ziyou, a late Golden Core Elder, felt a sense of awe and admiration towards a Foundation Establishment disciple for the first time in his life.
Xun Ziyou's heart was filled with a sense of awe that he couldn't quite put into words.
He had a premonition that if Mo Hua continued to cultivate with such dedication, no matter how low his background or how poor his spiritual roots were, he would undoubtedly become an extraordinary and awe-inspiring cultivator in the future.
On Mo Hua, he clearly saw the two ancient Daoist maxims that had been passed down in the Qian Xue Di Jie since ancient times:
"The heavens move with strength, and the noble-minded strive for self-improvement."
"The earth's position is receptive, and the noble-minded embrace all things with virtue."
"A talent like this must not be allowed to falter..."
Xun Ziyou sincerely thought to himself.
After that, he withdrew his gaze and began to focus intently on his role as Mo Hua's "bodyguard"...
...
The journey back was uneventful.
Upon returning to the Tai Xu Gate, Xun Ziyou had to report to Xun Lao Xin, so he no longer followed Mo Hua.
Mo Hua returned to the disciples' residence alone.
The matters regarding Gu Shan City were considered settled, and Mo Hua felt relieved.
He had done all he could, and from now on, it was up to them.
In the end, one's destiny could only be grasped by oneself.
Mo Hua continued to study formations.
With his Foundation Establishment cultivation and twenty spiritual patterns, he had broken through the laws of heaven and entered the realm of super-grade formations.
This naturally meant that he could officially begin to devote all his thoughts to researching formations beyond the super-grade level, those above the second-grade twenty patterns.
He had already learned one such formation.
The Secondary Thunder Current Formation, a second-grade twenty-pattern formation.
This formation was also engraved on the Gu Mountain Magnetic Ink Furnace, used to generate magnetic ink and derive a large number of secondary thunder patterns for his Return to Origin technique.
However, in a sense, this formation was "given" to him.
He had learned it without much effort.
Mo Hua didn't have the feeling of exhausting his mind, thinking deeply, and writing countless times before finally understanding the formation.
Learning without exerting effort and thought didn't feel right to Mo Hua, and he felt that his understanding wasn't deep enough.
But there was no other way; after all, he had already learned the Secondary Thunder Current Formation, and he couldn't forget it and relearn it.
He could only continue studying.
Mo Hua carefully took out an ancient piece of leather paper from his storage ring.
On the leather paper were ancient and intricate patterns, almost identical to the first-grade Reverse Spirit Formation.
Not a single mistake, a single stroke, a single hair, a single inch, or a single container could be found in the 619 Shu Ba!
A second-grade twenty-pattern Reverse Spirit Formation diagram!
This was a formation diagram that he had obtained from the merit treasury of the Ma Zong after controlling a demon cultivator using the Thunder-Magnetism Formation, with great difficulty.
The first formation Mo Hua had learned during the Qi Condensation stage was the Reverse Spirit Formation.
And now, having reached the late Foundation Establishment stage with twenty spiritual patterns, he was finally qualified to learn this second-grade Reverse Spirit Formation.
Mo Hua gently caressed the formation diagram on the leather paper.
To others, this was just an old and incomprehensible formation diagram.
But to Mo Hua, who had mastered the first-grade Reverse Spirit Formation, it was entirely different.
He could almost see the law of spirit power reversal slowly flowing within it.
This law of reversal was like a spark that, once ignited, could trigger a violent change in the laws and produce unimaginable destructive power.
During the Qi Condensation stage, he had used this Reverse Spirit Formation to destroy a large formation and annihilate an evil demon.
Now that he had reached the Foundation Establishment stage, once he mastered the second-grade Reverse Spirit Formation, his formation combat techniques would reach a whole new level.
If he had a second-grade large formation to use as a trigger for destruction, he couldn't even begin to imagine the power it would unleash.
Of course, he could only imagine it.
Where would he find a second-grade large formation to destroy?
A second-grade large formation would require an enormous amount of manpower and resources, spirit stones, and magnetic ink...
As a formation master, Mo Hua was well aware of this.
Others may be willing to give him a chance to break the formation, but he might not even want to take it.
Of course, even without breaking a Second-Rate Great Formation, an ordinary Second-Rate Formation, especially a high-level one, could still be quite deadly when broken with a Ni Ling Zheng. Even if it couldn't kill a Golden Core cultivator, it could at least severely injure them.
With this, he would have one more trump card to deal with Golden Core cultivators.
Mo Hua's heart raced with excitement as he began to focus his mind and delve into the Ni Ling Zheng formation diagram before him.
Each array engraving was carefully memorized and stored in his mind.
The reversed rules flowing within it were intricate and profound, but Mo Hua's Shen Nian slowly penetrated and comprehended them bit by bit.
The difficulty of the Ni Ling Zheng was indeed much higher.
Mo Hua had already learned the First-Rate Ni Ling Zheng and had also studied the grand finale formation diagram during the Formation Assembly, which incorporated some Ni Ling Zheng rules, making learning it much easier.
However, even so, this profound comprehension was by no means something that could be achieved overnight.
Mo Hua still needed to persist in practicing and comprehending it every day.
Day after day, month after month, his efforts would accumulate.
Perhaps one day, with practice, he would have a sudden realization and truly master the Ni Ling Zheng.
Learning formations was like this; it required a significant amount of time and relentless effort, and there was no shortcut other than persistent comprehension.
Fortunately, Mo Hua was already accustomed to this.
After studying the Ni Ling Zheng for a while, Mo Hua felt he had enough and put away the formation diagram.
Then, he began to consider another matter:
His Ben Ming Zheng Tu.
Mo Hua felt a bit disappointed.
In the Gu Mountain tomb, he had put in so much effort to obtain the Si Xiang Qing Long Zheng Tu, but in the end, it was still not meant to be. No matter how he calculated, the well-prepared Tu Mr. had already gotten there first.
He had only calculated this for a year or two.
But Tu Mr. might have been planning for hundreds of years.
It wasn't surprising that he didn't outsmart Tu Mr., and Mo Hua could accept that.
However, this meant that his Ben Ming Zheng Tu was still uncertain.
Mo Hua sighed and took out several formation diagrams from his storage ring.
These diagrams contained scattered records of various array engravings, all of which were in the shape of dragons, resembling dragon scales, claws, fins, or bodies...
Some of these engravings were derived by Mo Hua himself.
The others were imprinted from Shen Tu Ao's body.
But all of these engravings were incomplete.
The derivations were unfinished, and the imprints were only partially transferred.
Looking at these incomplete dragon scale and claw engravings, Mo Hua frowned, and suddenly, a bold idea popped into his mind:
"Why do I have to rely on Tu Mr.'s dragon diagram?"
"Can't I... derive a dragon on my own?"
The four symbols of the Ten Thousand Demon Valley, such as dog patterns, wolf patterns, snake patterns, bear patterns, tiger patterns... etc., were all carefully recorded by Mo Hua when he first ventured into the valley.
He had witnessed the various transformations of these demon patterns and their combination into a dragon pattern on Shen Tu Ao's body.
If Tu Mr. could extract the essence from these demon patterns to cultivate a dragon diagram, why couldn't he?
Copying Tu Mr.'s work wasn't impressive.
Deriving it himself would be truly remarkable.
This was the essential formation knowledge that a powerful formation master should possess.
The more Mo Hua thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
It's better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.
Tu Mr. didn't give him the fish, but Mo Hua had witnessed the entire process of his fishing.
If Tu Mr. could cultivate a dragon, then he could definitely do it too!
Moreover, Mo Hua possessed the skills of Tian Ji Yan Suan, Tian Ji Wei Suan, and the Gui Yuan algorithm of the Wu Xing Zong, so there was no reason he should be inferior to Tu Mr. in deriving formations...
Mo Hua's eyes gradually lit up, and his determination grew.
He also wanted to use demons to nurture a dragon.
By deeply analyzing the Si Xiang formations and studying the various transformations of the demon patterns, he would create a dragon himself!
"Dragon..."
Mo Hua's thoughts stirred, and he suddenly remembered that he had a Long Mai in his possession.
He climbed to the head of the bed and pulled out the Long Mai wrapped in black cloth from under his pillow.
Mo Hua untied a corner of the black cloth, revealing a section of the Long Mai.
A powerful Qing Long aura immediately burst forth.
Mo Hua was startled and quickly wrapped the Long Mai back up in the black cloth, preventing the dragon energy from escaping.
Then, he frowned.
The Long Mai's aura was too strong for him to study.
He didn't dare touch it.
In the Gu Mountain Temple, Shen Shouhang, a Golden Core cultivator at the peak of his cultivation, had grabbed this Long Mai and immediately lost an arm.
Even if Mo Hua had the courage of a tiger, he wouldn't dare touch it with his bare hands.
He knew better than anyone the strength of his physical body.
Moreover, he indeed did not possess the bloodline of the Da Huang Royal Family.
Mo Hua stared at the Long Mai for a while but still couldn't figure it out, so he put it aside for the time being.
"Let's put the Long Mai aside for now; it won't run away. The priority is to derive the dragon diagram..."
Mo Hua took out formation paper and meticulously transcribed all the demon patterns he had obtained in the Ten Thousand Demon Valley.
Then, he officially began the grand plan of creating a dragon.
Extracting the essence of ten thousand demons to draw the dragon diagram of Da Huang.
Naturally, this was also a complex formation project.
But Mo Hua was neither anxious nor discouraged.
This process of deriving the formation patterns could deepen his understanding and application of the Si Xiang formations step by step.
Even if he couldn't create a dragon in the end, the constant attempts to dismantle, combine, evolve, and integrate the demon patterns would eventually make him a master of the Si Xiang formation patterns.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a worthwhile endeavor.
Mo Hua calmed down and began to study the incomplete dragon diagram, carefully examining the changes in the four symbols' demon patterns.
Time passed slowly, and the night grew quiet.
The candlelight on the table flickered gently.
The demon patterns also continued to change under his brush.
After an unknown amount of time, Mo Hua, who was usually full of energy, felt a rare sense of fatigue.
His eyelids grew heavy, and the formation patterns before him became blurry.
The Long Mai beside him was slightly warm.
The demon patterns began to twist and melt together, forming a vague shadow.
As Mo Hua watched these shadows, his concentration wavered, and before he knew it, he had dozed off on the table, falling into a deep sleep.
In his sleep, Mo Hua had a dream.
In the dream, he saw a dragon.
(End of Chapter)
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